How political flip-flop ensured religious freedom

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The First Amendment as we know it, in fact the entire Bill of Rights, might not exist if not for a concerned Baptist minister, First Amendment Center Founder John Seigenthaler told an audience today.

In 1788, the Rev. John Leland contacted politician James Madison, a fellow Virginian, to express concern about the Constitution that recently had been sent to the states for ratification. As a member of what was then a minority religious sect, Leland was troubled that the draft Constitution contained no protections for religious liberty and was convinced, as were many other citizens and politicians, that the people needed a bill of rights.

However, Madison, who had helped draft the Constitution and was now campaigning to represent Virginia in the First Congress, had publicly dismissed the idea, reasoning there was no need to protect freedoms already considered inalienable and protected by a carefully balanced government.

Leland pleaded his case. Madison listened — and agreed, pulling the “first major public flip-flop in the history of American politics,” Seigenthaler said. Madison vowed, if elected, to push for a bill explicitly enumerating freedoms guaranteed to all citizens. He followed through on his promise and introduced the bill on June 8, 1789, hence becoming the father of the Bill of Rights.

In “One Nation Under God: Indivisible or Divisible,” the fourth in a series of lectures at the center exploring the history of the First Amendment, Seigenthaler used the story of Leland’s oft-forgotten role to fill what he calls a “hole” in Americans’ commonly accepted history.

Addressing another of these holes, Seigenthaler examined the belief that the United States is a Christian nation. While the country’s first colonists, the Pilgrims, were indeed Christians, Seigenthaler said, few people today would likely embrace their beliefs or lifestyle. Having fled religious persecution in their native country, the Pilgrims arrived in the New World and proceeded to establish a church-state “whose members were judged and judged harshly — as Christian citizens,” Seigenthaler said. Those who professed religious beliefs that differed from theirs often were forced to leave the colony, as was the Rev. Roger Williams, who went on to establish a new, more open community in Rhode Island that he named Providence.

Had some of the country’s Founding Fathers been present in the Pilgrims’ Massachusetts Bay Colony, they too would have been expelled, Seigenthaler said. From Benjamin Franklin, a professed Deist, to Thomas Jefferson, a religious skeptic, to George Washington, a churchgoer who, according to his pastors, regularly refused to take Communion and was a Deist, many of the nation’s founders professed religious beliefs that probably would be questioned by the Pilgrims as well as many people today.

It was Jefferson, Seigenthaler said, who coined the metaphor “wall of separation” to refer to the First Amendment’s religion clauses. While many religious leaders point out that the phrase does not appear in the Constitution, Seigenthaler said, the courts have relied heavily on Jefferson’s metaphor in ruling in religious cases.

“What the court has made of Jefferson’s wall has now become a legal barrier,” Seigenthaler said. “No constitutional freedom, not even that of religion, is absolute. But if you look at what the courts have said, you know the wall is difficult to get over or under or around or to tear down.”

As the courts’ interpretation of the First Amendment and the public’s reaction to this interpretation demonstrate, the founders “stirred a pot of trouble” with the 16 words of the amendment’s religious-liberty clauses, Seigenthaler said. But through those words, they also laid the foundation for the country to become the religiously diverse nation that it is today.

“What a different country we might have had if the Constitution had embraced the majority religion of that day, Anglicanism … as an official doctrine of a country whose religious diversity was expanding already exponentially,” Seigenthaler said. “Under a universal state religion, would our land have been such a compelling magnet, attracting diverse citizens from foreign shores?”

One issue threatening religious diversity in the United States today is the treatment of Muslims in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Seigenthaler said. After the attacks, many Muslims who were U.S. citizens “were subjected to government arrest, inquiry, (and) persecution,” he said. Others “who were not citizens were deported in secret hearings, without advice of counsel (and with) no chance for judicial review.”

In the midst of this, Seigenthaler said, the country and its citizens must make the First Amendment ring true today.

“Our country will not live up to its legacy of religious tolerance if we make [Muslims] feel as Roger Williams once felt — persecuted,” he said. “There can be no greater challenge to the freest country in the history of the world than making the 16 words of the First Amendment meaningful for all.”

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THE EXPERTS

The First Amendment Center is an educational organization and cannot provide legal advice.

Ken Paulson is president of the First Amendment Center and dean of the College of Mass Communication at Middle Tennessee State University. He is also the former editor-in-chief of USA Today.

Gene Policinski, chief operating officer of the Newseum Institute, also is senior vice president of the First Amendment Center, a center of the institute. He is a veteran journalist whose career has included work in newspapers, radio, television and online.

John Seigenthaler founded the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center in 1991 with the mission of creating national discussion, dialogue and debate about First Amendment rights and values.

About The First Amendment Center

We support the First Amendment and build understanding of its core freedoms through education, information and entertainment.

The center serves as a forum for the study and exploration of free-expression issues, including freedom of speech, of the press and of religion, and the rights to assemble and to petition the government.

Founded by John Seigenthaler, the First Amendment Center is an operating program of the Freedom Forum and is associated with the Newseum and the Diversity Institute. The center has offices in the John Seigenthaler Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., and at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

The center’s website, www.firstamendmentcenter.org, is one of the most authoritative sources of news, information and commentary in the nation on First Amendment issues. It features daily updates on news about First Amendment-related developments, as well as detailed reports about U.S. Supreme Court cases involving the First Amendment, and commentary, analysis and special reports on free expression, press freedom and religious-liberty issues. Support the work of the First Amendment Center.

1 For All

1 for All is a national nonpartisan program designed to build understanding and support for First Amendment freedoms. 1 for All provides teaching materials to the nation’s schools, supports educational events on America’s campuses and reminds the public that the First Amendment serves everyone, regardless of faith, race, gender or political leanings. It is truly one amendment for all. Visit 1 for All at http://1forall.us/

Help tomorrow’s citizens find their voice: Teach the First Amendment

The most basic liberties guaranteed to Americans – embodied in the 45 words of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution – assure Americans a government that is responsible to its citizens and responsive to their wishes.

These 45 words are as alive and important today as they were more than 200 years ago. These liberties are neither liberal nor conservative, Democratic nor Republican – they are the basis for our representative democratic form of government.

We know from studies beginning in 1997 by the nonpartisan First Amendment Center, and from studies commissioned by the Knight Foundation and others, that few adult Americans or high school students can name the individual five freedoms that make up the First Amendment.

The lesson plans – drawn from materials prepared by the Newseum and the First Amendment Center – will draw young people into an exploration of how their freedoms began and how they operate in today’s world. Students will discuss just how far individual rights extend, examining rights in the school environment and public places. The lessons may be used in history and government, civics, language arts and journalism, art and debate classes. They may be used in sections or in their entirety. Many of these lesson plans indicate an overall goal, offer suggestions on how to teach the lesson and list additional resources and enrichment activities.

First Amendment Moot Court Competition

This site no longer is being updated … And the competition itself is moving to Washington, D.C., where the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center is co-sponsoring the “Seigenthaler-Sutherland Cup National First Amendment Moot Court Competition,” March 18-19, in partnership with the Columbus School of Law, of the Catholic University of America.

During the two-day competition in February, each team will participate in a minimum of four rounds, arguing a hypothetical based on a current First Amendment controversy before panels of accomplished jurists, legal scholars and attorneys.

FIRST AMENDMENT CENTER ARCHIVES

State of the First Amendment survey reports

The State of the First Amendment surveys, commissioned since 1997 by the First Amendment Center and Newseum, are a regular check on how Americans view their first freedoms of speech, press, assembly, religion and petition.

The periodic surveys examine public attitudes toward freedom of speech, press, religion and the rights of assembly and petition; and sample public opinion on contemporary issues involving those freedoms.
See the reports.